Electric pulse counter

ABSTRACT

The counter includes a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing of plastic composition material having a first part, which is open on two sides, containing the counter mechanism including an oscillatable indexing fork, and having opposed lateral walls serving as bearing supports. The housing has a second part, open only at the rear of the housing, containing a slide-in electromagnet including a U-shaped ferromagnetic yoke and actuating a tilting armature operatively associated with the indexing fork. The winding form of the electromagnet has forward and rear flanges and a core formed with a passage therethrough. One leg of the yoke extends through the passage and has a lateral projection on its free end engageable over the front face of the forward flange. One of the lateral walls has an inwardly directed projection engageable with that side, of the other yoke leg, opposed to the projection on the one leg. The rear flange of the winding form has a transverse groove therein receiving the yoke web in substantially flush relation, the rear flange closing the rear opening of the housing and being releasably latchable in the housing. The tilting armature, which actuates a lever arm of the indexing fork, is loosely mounted in a transverse groove in the bottom wall of the housing and has its motion toward the yoke limited by a stop provided between the free ends of the yoke legs and forming an integral part of the housing. The construction provides for the slide-in electromagnet to be readily released from the housing and withdrawn therefrom for insertion, for example, of a different electromagnet.

United States Patent [191 Kundisch et al.

[ Oct. 28, 1975 1 ELECTRIC PULSE COUNTER [75] Inventors: Heinrich Kundisch; Werner Pfundstein, both of Schwenningen, Germany [73] Assignee: Irion & Vosseler Zahlwefabrik,

Schwenningen, Germany [22] Filed: May 9, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 468,504

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 8, 1973 Germany 2329282 [52] US. Cl. 235/92 C; 235/92 R [51] Int. Cl. G06M 1/02; GO6M 1/10 [58] Field of Search 235/92 C, 91 M; 335/140 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,522,734 9/1950 Wood 235/92 C 3,648,028 3/1972 Kazuhikohara et al. 235/92 C Primary ExaminerJoseph M. Thesz, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or FirmMcGlew and Tuttle 57 ABSTRACT The counter includes a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing of plastic composition material having a first part, which is open on two sides, containing the counter mechanism including an oscillatable indexing fork, and having opposed lateral walls serving as bearing supports. The housing has a second part, open only at the rear of the housing, containing a slide-in electromagnet including a U-shaped ferromagnetic yoke and actuating a tilting armature operatively associated with the indexing fork. The winding form of the electromagnet has forward and rear flanges and a core formed with a passage therethrough. One leg of the yoke extends through the passage and has a lateral projection on its free end engageable over the front face of the forward flange. One of the lateral walls has an inwardly directed projection engageable with that side, of the other yoke leg, opposed to the projection on the one leg. The rear flange of the winding form has a transverse groove therein receiving the yoke web in substantially flush relation, the rear flange closing the rear opening of the housing and being releasably latchable in the housing. The tilting armature, which actuates a lever arm of the indexing fork, is loosely mounted in a transverse groove in the bottom wall of the housing and has its motion toward the yoke limited by a stop provided between the free ends of the yoke legs and forming an integral part of the housing. The construction provides for the slide-in electromagnet to be readily released from the housing and withdrawn therefrom for insertion, for example, of a different electromagnet.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 3,916,164

U.S. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,916,164

3 m who ELECTRIC PULSE COUNTER FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an electric pulse Counter comprising a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing of plastic composition material having a first part, open on two sides, containing a counter mechanism including an oscillatable indexing fork, and having opposed lateral walls serving as bearing supports, the housing having a second part, open only at the rear of the housing, containing a slide-in electromagnet including a U-shaped ferromagnetic yoke and actuating a tilting armature operatively associated with the indexing fork.

Counters of this general type are well known and are manufactured in large numbers with more or less constructural differences, the counters being used very frequently for the registration of the most various types of computation units. In view of the large quantities manufactured for each series, the main problem is, aside from the requirement of having as few as possible parts to assemble, to design the individual component parts so that the assembly becomes as simple as possible and can be accomplished in the shortest time.

While a well known conventional counter of this type is still provided with a rectangular parallelpiped housing, or with a metal frame support requiring screws for mounting the electromagnet and other individual parts, U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,498 discloses a counter having a frame support made complately of plastic composition material, and shaped as a winding form whose flanges serve simultaneously as bearing plates for the counter mechanism and for receiving the iron yoke as well as an iron indexing fork.

In this latter construction, the counter mechanism and the electromagnet are designed as a construction unit, which is disadvantageous insofar as, before the assembling operation, the winding form must be provided with the winding, and the winding is dimensioned for a definite operating voltage so that a subsequent equipment of the counter with a coil designed for another operating voltage is possible only after a complete dismounting of the counter mechanism. In pulse counters designed in accordance with the type mentioned at first, this disadvantage is obviated because, in these counters, the electromagnet is inserted into the housing as a unit after the mounting of the counter mechanism therein, and can, at any time, be easily interchanged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to the problem of designing the electromagnet, and the part of the housing receiving the same, so that the electromagnet, along with its yoke, may be inserted into the housing in a simple manner after the mounting of the counter mechanism in the housing, and connected to the housing solely by form-closure.

In accordance with the invention, this problem is solved in that the iron yoke is retained in a winding form by means of a projection provided on the free end of a yoke leg passing through a passage in the winding form, and adapted to engage over the front face of a forward flange of the Winding form, as well-as being retained by means of a raised portion or interior projection formed on one of the lateral housing walls and adapted to engage that side, of the other yoke leg, which is opposed to the projection on the free end of the one yoke leg, with the web of the iron or ferromagnetic yoke being located in flush relation in a correspondingly deep transverse groove provided in a rear flange of the winding form, the rear flange closing the rear opening of the housing and adapted to be releasably latched in the housing.

Aside from the advantage that the electromagnet which, in itself, comprises three separate parts, i.e. the winding form with the magnet winding thereon, the ferromagnetic yoke and the tilting armature, may be easily inserted into the counter housing without any additional means and, in spite of that, easily interchanged at any time, it is to be noted, in addition. that the entire electric part, as mounted in the counter, is surrounded on all sides by dielectric walls and thereby completely enclosed. With this construction, a quite substantial disadvantage of a known and already-mentioned electric pulse counter is avoided, namely the danger that the winding form of the electromagnet, or the terminal wires thereof, could be damaged during storage or transportation of the counter.

In a further development of the invention, the tilting armature, actuating a lever arm of the indexing fork, is mounted loosely in a transverse groove of the bottom wall of the housing, and limited in its motion, toward the electromagnet yoke, by a stop provided between the free ends of the yoke legs and molded integrally with the housing. Thereby there is obtained, along with simple mounting of the tilting armature consisting only in the insertion of the same into the groove, the advantage that, without any additional adjusting operations, the engagement depth of the indexing fork in the star wheel of the counter wheel driven by the latter is limited to a permissible value.

Other advantageous features of the invention will become apparent from the description thereof hereinafter.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved electric pulse counter of the type including a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing mounting the counter mechanism and a slide-in electromagnet.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an electric pulse counter in which the electromagnet can be easily interchanged at any time.

-A further object of the invention is to provide such an electric counter in which the electrical parts are entirely enclosed by dielectric material.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the counter housing, the winding form and the ferromagnetic yoke, in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a completely assembled counter in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line IIIIII of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As may be seen more particularly in FIG. 1 in perspective, the counter housing I has a cubic or rectangular parallelpiped shape, and its front part 2 is formed with a rectangular front opening 3 and a top opening 4. The rear part 5 of counter housing 1 comprises two lateral walls 6 and 7, a top wall 8 and a bottom wall 9, and the rear end of the housing is open. Top wall 8 and bottom wall 9 are formed with respective openings 10 and 11, into which locking noses l4 and 15, respectively, best seen in FIG. 2, provided on the upper and lower edges of the rear flange 12 of a winding form 13, are engageable. Rear flange 12 of winding form 13 is so shaped that it completely closes the otherwise open rear end of counter housing 1 when inserted therein. The entire counter housing 1 is made in one piece by plastic injection molding, and so is the winding form 13.

Front flange 16 of winding form 13 is of rectangular shape and, for guiding the same along the inside surfaces of top wall 8 and bottom 9 of counter housing 1, guide ribs 17 are provided. Housing 1 has an intermediate wall 18 in which there is a correspondingly shaped opening 19 for receiving front flange 16 and securely retaining the same, as may be seen, more particularly, in FIGS. 2 and 3. Rear flange 12 of winding form 13 is formed with rectangular recesses 20 at its four corners and into which projections 21 of top wall 8 and 22 of bottom wall 9 engage. The lower and upper edges of rear flange 12 are formed with respective rectangular recesses 23 and 24 at their central portions, and which are provided for facilitating removal of the winding form from counter housing 1 by lifting top wall 8 and bottom wall 9 by means of a flat object, such as a screw driver, to disengage the locking noses 14 and 15. To this end, bevels 25 are provided on the rear edges of top wall 8 and bottom wall 9, in the zone of the recesses 24 and 23 of flange 12 of winding form 13.

In order to provide a flush counter sunk mounting of ferromagnetic yoke 26 which is a U-shaped flat piece, rear flange 12 of winding form 13 is formed with a transverse groove 27. Leg 29 of ferromagnetic yoke 26, extending through winding 28 as illustrated in FIG. 3, is formed, on its front or free end, with a laterally extending projection 30, and, aside from this projection, is narrower than the receiving passage 31 extending through the core of winding form 13. Projection serves, as may be seen more particularly from FIG. 3, for a form-closure locking of ferromagnetic yoke 26in winding form 13, and engages, when the yoke 26 is mounted in winding form 13, against the front face 16 of flange 16. To prevent loosening of this engagement while winding form 13 is inserted in the counter housing, and to assure its retention in this locking position, a guide rib 32 is provided on the inner surface of lateral wall 6 of counter housing 1, and a projection 33 is provided on the rear end of free leg 29 of yoke 26, and which also engages against the inner surface of lateral wall 6.

For mounting winding form 13, after it has been provided with winding 28, form 13 is inserted, along with ferromagnetic yoke 26 received therein, from the rear into counter housing 1, with guide ribs 17 serving as guides for front flange I6 and rib 32 serving as a guide for ferromagnetic yoke 26 and thereafter as a means for securing the position of the latter. As soon as winding form 13 is completely introduced into counter housing 1, the two locking noses l4 and 15 engage, as shown in FIG. 2, in the respective openings 10 and 11 so that winding form 13 is releasably latched in counter housing 1 by a form closure.

For mounting tilting armature 35, which comprises a flat rectangular ferromagnetic plate, a transverse groove 37 is provided in a transverse web 36 located in advance of the intermediate wall 18, and tilting armature 35 is loosely inserted into groove 37. The upper portion of tilting armature 35, when the tilting armature is attracted by ferromagnetic yoke 26 upon excitation of winding 28, actuates a lever arm 38 of an indexing fork 39 projecting into the operative range of tilting armature 35. The free end of indexing fork 39 is engageable with the star wheel 40 of the first counter wheel 41 of the counter, and indexing fork 39 is pivotally mounted on shaft 42 which is mounted in lateral Walls 6 and 7 in the front part 2 of counter housing I. Indexing fork 39 also is made of plastic composition material and is provided with a molded spring tongue 43 on the free end of which there is a cam 44 engageable against the interior surface of top wall 8. Tongue 43 serves as a return spring for indexing fork 39.

To prevent tilting armature 35 from falling out of groove 37, a rib 46 is provided on hub 45 of indexing fork 39, and extends substantially over the entire width of tilting armature 35.

To limit pivotal movement of tilting armature 35 toward yoke 26, and thus limit the pivotal motion of indexing fork 39, a stop 49 is molded on a web of intermediate wall 18 approximately at the level of yoke 26, as best seen in FIG. 2. This stop 49 projects approximately 07 l to 0.2 mm from the front surface 26 of yoke 26 and, at the same time, prevents tilting armature 35 from adhering to ferromagnetic yoke 26.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. In an electric pulse counter of the type including a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing, of plastic composition material, having a first part, which is open on two sides, containing the counter mechanism including an oscillatable indexing fork, said housing having opposed lateral walls serving as bearing supports, and having a second part, open only at the rear of the housing, containing a slide-in electromagnet including a U-shaped ferromagnetic yoke and actuating a tilting armature operatively associated with the indexing fork, the improvement comprising, in combination, said electromagnet including a winding form having forward and rear flanges and a core formed with a passage therethrough; one leg of said yoke extending through said passage and having a lateral projection on its free end engageable over the front face of said forward flange; one of said lateral walls having an inwardly directed rib engageable with that side, of the other leg of said yoke, opposed to said projection; the rear flange of said winding form having a transverse groove therein receiving the web of said yoke in substantially flush relation; said rear flange closing the rear opening of said housing and being releasably latchable in said housing.

2. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said tilting armature actuates a lever arm of said indexing fork and is loosely mounted in a transverse groove of the housing bottom wall; and a stop molded integrally with said housing and positioned between the free ends of said ferromagnetic yoke and engageable with said tilting armature to limit its motion toward said yoke.

3. ln an electric pulse counter. the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said stop is located above said groove and substantially at the level of said ferromagnetic yoke; said stop projecting forwardly. from the plane of the free ends of said ferromagnetic yoke, by at least 0.1 to 0.2 mm.

4. In an electric pulse counter. the improvement claimed in claim I, in which said rear flange and said winding form has, on at least one edge, a latching nose engageable in a corresponding recess in a wall of said counter housing.

5. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim I, in which said housing is formed with an intermediate wall between said first and second parts; said intermediate wall being formed with an opening conformingly receiving and seating the forward flange of said winding form; said housing having upper and lower walls formed with guide ribs receiving and guiding said forward flange of said winding form during insertion of said electromagnet into said second part of said housing.

6. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said indexing fork is molded of plastic composition material integrally with a resilient tongue having a cam on its free end engageable against an inner surface of a housing wall.

7. In an electric pulse counter. the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said indexing fork is formed with a hub portion carrying said lever arm; said hub portion being located in alignment with said transverse groove and being formed with a rib extending throughout the width of said tilting armature and preventing displacement of said tilting armature from said transverse groove.

8. In an electric pulse counter. the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said other leg of said yoke. adjacent its junction to the web of said yoke, is formed with a lateral extension engageable with said one lateral 

1. In an electric pulse counter of the type including a substantially rectangular parallelpiped housing, of plastic composition material, having a first part, which is open on two sides, containing the counter mechanism including an oscillatable indexing fork, said housing having opposed lateral walls serving as bearing supports, and having a second part, open only at the rear of the housing, containing a slide-in electromagnet including a U-shaped ferromagnetic yoke and actuating a tilting armature operatively associated with the indexing fork, the improvement comprising, in combination, said electromagnet including a winding form having forward and rear flanges and a core formed with a passage therethrough; one leg of said yoke extending through said passage and having a lateral projection on its free end engageable over the front face of said forward flange; one of said lateral walls having an inwardly directed rib engageable with that side, of the other leg of said yoke, opposed to said projection; the rear flange of said winding form having a transverse groove therein receiving the web of said yoke in substantially flush relation; said rear flange closing the rear opening of said housing and being releasably latchable in said housing.
 2. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said tilting armature actuates a lever arm of said indexing fork and is loosely mounted in a transverse groove of the housing bottom wall; and a stop molded integrally with said housing and positioned between the free ends of said ferromagnetic yoke and engageable with said tilting armature to limit its motion toward said yoke.
 3. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said stop is located above said groove and substantially at the level of said ferromagnetic yoke; said stop projecting forwardly, from the plane of the free ends of saiD ferromagnetic yoke, by at least 0.1 to 0.2 mm.
 4. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said rear flange and said winding form has, on at least one edge, a latching nose engageable in a corresponding recess in a wall of said counter housing.
 5. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said housing is formed with an intermediate wall between said first and second parts; said intermediate wall being formed with an opening conformingly receiving and seating the forward flange of said winding form; said housing having upper and lower walls formed with guide ribs receiving and guiding said forward flange of said winding form during insertion of said electromagnet into said second part of said housing.
 6. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said indexing fork is molded of plastic composition material integrally with a resilient tongue having a cam on its free end engageable against an inner surface of a housing wall.
 7. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which said indexing fork is formed with a hub portion carrying said lever arm; said hub portion being located in alignment with said transverse groove and being formed with a rib extending throughout the width of said tilting armature and preventing displacement of said tilting armature from said transverse groove.
 8. In an electric pulse counter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said other leg of said yoke, adjacent its junction to the web of said yoke, is formed with a lateral extension engageable with said one lateral wall. 